1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a banknote processing apparatus that dispenses a predetermined number of banknotes that are bundled (hereinafter “banknote bundle”) to the outside of the apparatus and relates to a banknote bundle dispensing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Banknote inserting and dispensing machines that include a sorting unit, a bundling unit, and a dispensing unit are well known conventional banknote processing apparatuses (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3311088). The sorting unit sorts inserted banknotes according to predetermined denominations. The bundling unit bundles, with a bundling band, a predetermined number of banknotes of each of the predetermined denominations, which are sorted by the sorting unit, so that a banknote bundle is prepared. Once one banknote bundle is prepared, the dispensing unit dispenses the prepared banknote bundle from a bundle dispensing port to the outside of the apparatus. According to Japanese Patent No. 3311088, inserted banknotes are sorted according to predetermined denominations and a predetermined number of banknotes of each sorted predetermined denomination are bundled, with a bundling band, into a banknote bundle, and banknote bundles can be dispensed individually from the bundle dispensing port.
For conventional banknote processing apparatuses, a technology is known in which there is a selectable mode in which banknote bundles are stacked in a bundle stacking unit and a predetermined number of banknote bundles are collectively dispensed to the outside of the apparatus and in which there is a selectable mode in which banknote bundles are individually dispensed to the outside of the apparatus (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 08-87636). According to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 08-87636, banknote bundles can be dispensed individually or in multiples.
In addition, for conventional banknote processing apparatuses, a technology is known in which dispensing ports corresponding to the number of banknote bundles are provided and banknote bundles are dispensed through predetermined dispensing ports in accordance with the number of banknote bundles (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-278665). According to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-278665, for example, banknote bundles are dispensed from the upper dispensing port when the number of the banknote bundles is less than three, and banknote bundles are dispensed from the lower dispensing port when the number of the banknote bundles is three or more. Thus, banknote bundles can be dispensed from corresponding dispensing ports in accordance with the number of banknote bundles.
In the conventional banknote processing apparatuses, banknote bundles are successively dispensed to the outside of the apparatus. However, users cannot designate the number of banknote bundles to be collectively dispensed and thus a user's desired specific number of banknote bundles cannot be dispensed; therefore, the above-described conventional banknote processing apparatuses require a user's manual operation when collecting a predetermined number of banknote bundles, which imposes an operational burden on the user.
For example, when banknote bundles are collected from circulated loose banknotes in a ten-banknote-bundles basis, the ten banknote bundles are manually collected. If the unbundled banknotes are unfit notes, the banknote bundles are bulky and the work accumulating and collecting the 10 banknote bundles is significantly time-consuming.